Partnership to Advance School Success or PASS

Elliott Stern, representative of Raymond James, and Teresa Anderson, principal of Azalea Middle, sign a symbolic PASS contract to celebrate the school's new partnership.

Partnership to Advance School Success or PASS

The PASS program is the newest among many Mayor's Mentors & More opportunities available to support the success of schools and students within St. Petersburg. "As part of our efforts to support public education, we welcome the combined contributions from the state and each local corporate partner, enabling us to provide additional student and educational incentives," said Mayor Rick Baker.

 "Partnership to Advance School Success," or PASS, is a statewide model for improving student achievement and raising the grade level of Florida's low performing schools. It brings together the talents of successful corporate business leaders, the school principal and an educational coach in a three-year mentoring relationship.
 
The St. Petersburg PASS initiative represents a total of $1.6 million of support for ten schools in St. Petersburg over the next three years. Fourteen local companies serving as PASS corporate partners commit to contribute $75,000 or $100,000 directly to the school over a three-year partnership and the state of Florida will match the corporate gift - bringing the total commitment for each school to $150,000. Lori Matway, city of St. Petersburg Policy Administrator, will serve as an outside "educational coach" appointed to work with staff at each school. The school principal will use the money to provide performance-enhancing resources.  In the process of establishing the seven schools Mayor Baker and Dr. Lind studied and documented the first PASS school success in St. Petersburg – Mt. Vernon Elementary – and created a School Strategic Plan Development Model (PDF) based on Mt. Vernon’s work in improving student achievement.
 
The partnerships, like Mt. Vernon/Raymond James formed at the local level are so dynamic due to the support of organizations working at the state level such as the Florida Department of Education and the Council for Educational Change, a nonprofit educational think tank. These organizations work with communities to provide additional resources to "C" and "D" graded schools to conduct specific programs aimed to raise the school's grade level, improve student performance and enhance school operations. According to Dr. Elaine Liftin, executive director of the Council for Educational Change, "The PASS program is a commitment by Florida's business community to leverage what it does best - running efficient, focused organizations - to improve the quality of public education."
 
Council Board Members met in St. Petersburg on May 17th for their Semi-Annual Board Meeting. Prior to the meeting, the Council launched its first Satellite Center at Mayor Rick Baker's Office in St. Petersburg. This honor is reflective of the level of commitment and involvement from the city of St. Petersburg in improving the achievement of all students in St. Petersburg. The Council for Educational Change and the Mayor partner on Municipal PASS, serving 7 St. Petersburg schools. Similar to the Council's PASS program, Municipal PASS includes a local city government as a partner for the schools. The Mayor enlisted local corporate and philanthropic leaders to support the program which is also funded by the Florida Legislature through the FLDOE.

 
The schools and their PASS partners are:  
     
74th Street Elementary       
Gerry & Cathy Hogan
Jean & Ted Wittner
Goodwill Industries
           
Bear Creek Elementary
Mortgage Investors Corporation

           
Boca Ciega High
Universal Healthcare
Florida Blood Services
 
Clearview Elementary
AMSCOT

           
Gibbs High
All Children's Hospital

James B. Sanderlin Elementary
BB&T

Lakewood Elementary
SunTrust Bank


Lakewood High
Terra Construction Services

           
Maximo Elementary
College of Business, USF St. Petersburg
Bank of America
American Opportunity for Housing, Inc.
 
Azalea Middle
Raymond James Financial